Tag: travel

Visit With Passionate People

May 16th, 2015

I was visiting this jewelry store in Rome by a very famous jewelry maker Diego Percossi Papi (exibition). The shop is tiny and I was a bit intimidated since the jewelry were all well over $1,000. I looked into the shop for a good 5 minutes until the owner/designer buzzed me in and told me to look around.

We got talking about jewelry and he pulled out his custom jewelry that he was making for his clients. He told me he’s been making jewelry for 40 years. He usually takes a sentimental piece of stone from a client and he’ll design something custom. Each piece takes him about 1 hour to sketch and 18 hours to make. I ended up asking him to take a photo with me.. I was in love with a $1,600 diamond/ruby ring. Maybe next time I go back to Rome, I’ll have something made for me.

Passion plus longevity is such a rare thing. I think it must be such a gift to have passion for something and be able to do it for 40 years. I hope my little fingers and eyes can survive for another 30 years so that I can still type for Y!
Malaysia : Bangalore : Taj Mahal : 2008

January 6th, 2011
I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world!

I get to spend a day in Malaysia just to watch the Badminton Super Series in Kuala Lumpur before traveling to Bangalore, India to work remotely for a week.

Off to New Delhi and Agra on the weekend and visited one of the seven wonders of the world — the Taj Mahal.

Some highlights of the trip:
1. My flight arrived at 12:40pm in Malysia and went straight to the stadium to watch 7 hours of world class badminton matches.
2. While eating in Malysia, I watched a rat scuttle around the dish washing bowl while I was eating my food… really need to just put that out of my mind as I eat :-)
3. Taj Mahal is amazing from afar, but not so much when you get close.
4. India still has a lot of work to do to get health, garbage and poverty problems solved.
5. People working in the IT industry live like kings; they have their own drivers, maids and personal cooks, by paying only 5% of their salary, because so many people are desperate for jobs.
6. Train traveling is quite pleasant by paying less than US $5 for a 3-hour journey.
7. Better to travel with a companion who is local. Traveling alone at night is a definite no-no.
8. Be prepared to stay in some dirty hotels.
Paris 2011, 10th Trip For C.

December 11th, 2010

C. is truly a blessed child.

I have been taking C. to Paris once a year in order for both of us to spend some quality time together during her vacation. Also I want her to have a special place that I consistently bring her to so that when she grows up, it will be a special memory for her. And of course, it’s Paris!, I love the city almost as much as San Francisco.

We came back from Paris this year in April, but in November, C. already misses Paris and want to know when we will be going back. I have solid plans now to go back in June 2011!

Can’t wait!
Not Being Fair Is OK

January 22nd, 2008

I’m in Malaysia watching the 2008 Badminton Super Series (I’m an addict)

I noticed that older women in Malaysia and Bangalore often would cut in front of lines to the bathroom. It almost seems like they think it’s their right.

At first I was going to ask them to get in line, but then I thought why shouldn’t elders get some special privileges? In the US we try to treat everyone as equals, with no special consideration for elders. I think this shows a lack of respect and consideration for the needs of children and elders.

Next time in the US, try to give up your space not just on the bus, but also in a line to the grocery store, or to the bathroom. Try not to think you are being taken advantage of, but instead think of it as showing respect and special consideration to an elder.
Steady Biking From Nice To Monaco

July 17th, 2006

Slow and steady, just concentrate, I’m sweating like a dog, have not needed to pee in 8 hours, all my liquids are sweated out.

There is 10 more miles to go before I hit Monaco. I cursed every downhill because I have to bike up the same hill again in reverse. I reveled in the pain of going slowly uphill. A fellow biker is resting with her head in her lap and I offer her water. I see her later on the hill and she acknowledges me.

I told myself to soak up the intense moment of heat, sweat, world’s best bike experience of climbing hills, most beautiful Mediterranean sea on my right, and the feeling of intense fear. The fear is that I don’t have my helmet (lost on train). I’m biking along this speedway where cars often pass by me by what feels like inches from my knee. Sometimes I just give up and hide on the shoulder until the cars pass by

For bike lovers, you have got to take this trail, rest for a large beer then do the final route to Monaco
True Freedom Of Travel

July 14th, 2006
Having a bike always with me in Europe has totally changed the way I travel. I used to think I can just run anywhere since I like slow jogging, but can’t really do that when I’ve got a 20 lbs bag with me.
This is my current thoughts on travel by bike
1. I don’t take taxis anymore when I get to a city.
2. I don’t carry a backpack, just use my Brompton bag which hooks on to the bike
3. I caculate whether I really need every object in my bag to get rid of the weight
4. I’m never underground waiting, always moving
5. With a GPS, I’m never lost and always open to intentionally getting lost and bumping into new things
6. I don’t have to plan ahead as much since I can predict where I can be within a 5 mile radius
7. I feel the freedom of travel that I always thought I had, but I never really truely did when I had to walk
  1. Hotel->Bike->Train Station (buy tickets) -> Bike -> Office -> bike to dinner -> bike and get lost -> bike home
Thanks to Jeff for sending me this story

Little A-Bike unfolds to tackle the urban jungle

LONDON (AFP) – In the dog-eat-dog world of cutting-edge bicycle design, the A-Bike wants to be the Jack Russell terrier — small, cute as a button, but as tough as they come.

No bigger than a piece of carry-on luggage when folded, it opens up in just 10 seconds into an A-frame bicycle — hence its name — ready for use as an urban get-around vehicle.Conceived in Britain, built in Malaysia and sold via the Internet, it’s the latest — and potentially one of the most successful — ideas to come out of the mind of prolific inventor Sir Clive Sinclair.

It weighs a mere 5.6 kilogrammes (12.5 pounds), thanks to its aluminum and polymer frame, telescopic internal brake cables, an enclosed dual chain drive and 15-centimetre (six-inch) wheels seemingly pinched off a baby buggy.

Purists may sniff, and some did at the A-Bike’s official launch in London on Wednesday. But Sinclair makes no excuses for what he calls the first radical rethink of bicycle design in 120 years.

“I went right back to the past,” he told reporters at the Design Museum alongside the River Thames as prototype A-Bikes were put through their paces against the backdrop of Tower Bridge.

“The A-Bike is about half the weight and three times smaller” than the lightest and smallest conventional folding bikes now on the market, he said. “Never in the history of bikes has there been anything like such a feat.”

Sinclair is famous in his native Britain for a host of inventions, from the world’s first truly portable pocket calculator in 1972 to the pocket television in 1977 and, in 1980, the Sinclair ZX80, one of the world’s first home computers.

Other inventions have fared less well in sales terms, notably the C5 one-seat battery-powered tricycle, unveiled in 1985 to heaps of ridicule. Only 17,000 were sold — enough only to make them cult objects amongst eBay collectors.

Mayhem UK, the A-Bike’s distributor in Britain and the rest of Europe, predicts that Sinclair’s new design will sell as many as 25,000 units in the coming 12 months.

It’s priced at 199.99 pounds (290 euros, 375 dollars) plus delivery, and currently available only on the Internet (www.a-bike.co.uk), though Mayhem hopes to have it in airport duty-free shops as well.

Unlike its main rival, the British-built Brompton folding bicycle, hailed as the “smallest, cleverest fold” in a recent Business Week magazine survey, the A-Bike is assembled in Malaysia, at a “commercially sensitive” site.

Distribution in Asia and the United States has been licensed to a Hong Kong firm, Zata.

Test-ridden by an AFP reporter, the A-Bike certainly can zip along, its plastic pedals are as smooth as silk.

But its tiny wheels render it less stable than conventional bikes — ruling out tight turns and slalom runs through traffic jams.

There’s also no place to put baggage, though chief design engineer Alex Kalogroulis said a handlebar-mounted pannier is in the pipeline.

And while the A-Bike should hold up to the rigours of inner-city cycling, its instructions are rather emphatic in stating the obvious — that this sure ain’t no mountain bike.

“No wheelies! No stunt riding! Do not cycle into potholes!” they exclaim. Or as Kalogroulis acknowledged: “If you go into a deep hole, then yes, you’ll have a problem.”
Tonight’s Munich Gamble: Ended In Disaster

July 10th, 2006

After a very fillilng meal of traditional German food of fatty pork and dumplings for lunch, I’m up for some sushi.

It’s 9:58 and I’m trying to find some good food here in Munich, a search for ‘munich late night dining’ found me this CNN article
http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/restaurants/weissmann/world/munich.html#ASIAN
Tonight’s gamble:

Sho-ya-Sushi—Though the city offers a bounty of Japanese retaurants, many are little more than loud, trendy yuppie hangouts. That is not the case at this restaurant. A pub atmosphere and handwritten wall-mounted menus set the stage for excellent sushi and such cooked delicacies as exquisite, lightly battered jumbo shrimp. Open daily 11:30 am-2:30 pm and 6-11 pm. $$-$$$. Most major credit cards. Gabelsbergerstrasse 85. Phone 523-6249.

It’s 12:10am, the sushi place moved, and the new sushi place is closed. Biked over to another place that was suppose to open til 1:00am, no luck. I ended up eating at McDonalds!! oh well, haven’t had those chicken nuggets in 4 years. Then biked 2.5 in the dark back and got to take some night scenes of beautiful Munich
Travel By Bike In Europe: Essential Gear Check List

July 8th, 2006

As I get ready to leave for Munich for a short one week trip, I’m 2 hours away from the train leaving and as I get ready to pack I thought I write down the list of things so I remember to bring them. Might as well share it here, why not, it helps me organize

The gorrilla tripod let’s me take pictures of myself by attaching it to anything

Brompton bike, with helmet, lock and hooked on bag to carry my 17″ powerbook
Hat to cover bad morning hair and bad helmet hair

unlocked GSM tri band phone from ebay for $35 with 35 euro sim card bought in Paris

http://tomtom .com/ GPS with the map of country I’m going to and the Treo 650 to navigate

Power: extra battery for laptop, powerstrip to charge everything, all of the plugs for the gadgets

A European electric and phone plug set for every country, pick the one for the country I’m heading to
A handwritten set of addresses and phone number in case my electronic gadgets run out of batteries

A shoe bag to carry an extra visa card in case my things get stolen

ipod shuffle filled with unheard podcasts and a few highly rated songs, ear phones will be used for Skype as well

Clothes are the hardest, someone told me to just bring a day’s worth and just buy clothes when I arrive, I still have not gotten used to this.

Lastly, train tickets, wallet, passport, keys (take a photo of the passport and upload it to a private area, just in case)

Ok, 1 1/2 hour away time for dinner, drink some wine and off
Travel By Train Or Plane

July 5th, 2006

After reading http://seat61.com/ and watching the movie Before Sunrise, I had a very romantic notion of traveling by train. My first trip on the Eurorail from Paris to Copenhagen took me 15 hours and tor·tur·ous moments where I’m telling myself to get some sleep or I’ll be hallucinating in the bike train.

Hmm, I still have 9 more trips on this Eurorail pass, gotta to use it up. Not looking forward to it.

Then on the trip back to Paris, I decided to get a sleeper car instead. The trip from Copenhagen to Hamburg was in a first class cabine with free tea and coffee. Very comfortable 5 hours. And I got to chat with 2 fellow travelers. 2 sisters from Korea and the time passed by very fast as we talked nothing specific and the hours flew by as they talked about boyfriends, life in Korea, doritos, lack of sleep.

Then off to the Paris sleeper and the moment I got into the cabin I felt asleep. very comfortable! wow, this is nice. In the morning, they set an alarm to wake me up at 7:30, I went next door and eat next to my roomie and we had an hour worth of very personal chatter and I felt a connection (as most travelers do I’m sure) with this 50 year old film producer from Copenhagen.

wow.. I was telling him about my dissapointment with train travel and he told me he always enjoyed the slow travel and it’s the best way to meet new and interesting people.. I was looking at him, thinking this through and YEAH, that is true.. I would have never talked with anyone on the plane. hmm, that’s not so bad.. This train travel business is pretty cool, even though it burns aways all my hours (but while sleeping).. hmm, that’s not so bad. I got off the train in Paris, unfolded my Brompton and in 15 mins I’m back in the Paris apartment.. hmm, that’s not so bad.

I think I’ll put this 35 year old through another train ride all the way to Dublin end of August. A former co-worker from Y! invited me over. I think I met her only once, Emi and her husband are willing to show me around, let’s see how that goes.
Parisians are just like Americans

July 5th, 2006
Well I could safely say that I understand Parisian life a little bit more after running through to 140 metro stations, getting a hair cut, buying food at the local markets, going to shop at their farmer’s open air markets, biking around town on my bike for 30 days.

Here is the recap and sorry if I’m not my positive self today, I’m lacking sleep and I’m really grumpy
1. Parisians love MacDonalds just as much as us Americans.
2. Parisians love Starbucks probably more than Americans, there are 18 stores in Paris
3. Parisians are just as loud and disruptive as Americans when they have a reason to be.. right now it’s 1:24am and they are non stop here on the streets disrupting my sleep
4. Even though there have been many myths around French women don’t get fat, I suspect it has more to do with smoking than diet and exercise. It’s difficult to find a older French woman and man who is not fat. They probably stopped smoking
5. On a positive note, they do obey traffic light much better than Americans..
Now please let me get some sleep tonight.
Coffee Obsessed In Copenhagen

July 4th, 2006

The photo is of Reg Barber tampers I saw in Risterit in Denmark.. ooooo.. soo cool. I’ve been hearing about these babies on coffeegeek all week.

Ok, I’ve been obssessed with coffee lately. Listening to coffeegeek and http://www.portafilter.net podcasts talking about professional baristas, bean roasting, barista competitions. The 2006 barista champion actually works in Copenhagen. So I contacted a blogger I found when I was in Copenhagen and got recommendations for great espresso and off I went with my Brompton. I didn’t do any sightseeing, just hunting down espresso.

First on the list was Risteriet (www.risteriet.dk). The store is small but very coffee serious looking. It sold high end espresso machines, books on history of coffee, $70+ tampers, french presses. So I order a cappuccino to start.. it was bitter.. so I thought I’ll give it another chance. Order a latte, no art drawing and the taste was really average. Hmm, dissapointing. But my blogger contact was surprised I didn’t like it, I’ll revisit again for a straight shot of espresso. 3 stars out of 5

Second shop I visited was not on the list, just a place that looked interesting with a big M as the logo. The cappuccino was served in a huge glass, already a big warning sign.. and the coffee was just average, stale tasting with no good foam. 2 stars out of 5

By this time I’m on my forth cup of coffee and I arrived at Estate Coffee (www.estatecoffee.dk). The signs outside is bragging about the 2006 Barista champion works there. But he was not working at the counter. This place is a roaster as well as a cafe. I ordered a cappuccino and it was served with latte art. The coffee and milk was very sweet and smooth. I was reminded very much of Rituals Coffee right in San Francisco. Makes me realize how good we have it in SF with bluebottle and cafe organica and now Rituals. 4 stars out of 5. Why not 5 out of 5? The atmosphere is so so, very quiet, no music.. no coffee culture.

If you know me a little, you know I obsess over food and coffee. *I* didn’t even know how bad it could get. I’m basically ignoring the sights of the city of Copenhagen in search for coffee :-) Ok 2 more cafes to check out tomorrow, then I’ll do the tourist thing, but not before I put another 15 miles on my Brompton.

Ciao!
10 simple steps to travel in Paris

December 19th, 2005
1. Find a really good air fare from http://travel.yahoo.com/
2. Rent an apartment from these folks http://parisvacationapartments.com/ , this is the apartment I’m staying, right on Rue Lepic where all the food markets are. They’ve got a full kitchen, with washer and dryer and very chic apartments
3. Plan your eating itinery with this book Food Lover’s Guide to Paris
4. Visit the best bakery every morning with the best pain au chocolat
5. Buy some good coffee beans from New York and bring them with you to Paris from http://portorico.com/
6. Take a batobus around Paris not a tourist boat, it’s much more affortable and less tourists
7. Plan on doing a bit of walking and taking the metro around town.
8. Learn a few very simple French words and they will love you because you tried. words like 1-2-3, hello, thank you, pain au chocolat, excuse me, I’m sorry, goodbye, good night, please, do you speak French, I do not speak French, help me!
9. Visit Sacre Cour and the top of Eiffel Tower for a breathtaking view of the entire city
10. Every 3 hours, stop by a crepe stand where they are making it from a fresh batter mixture and get a nutella+banana crepe or a lemon+suger (citron+sucre)
Kate: having fun traveling

May 31st, 2005

It was not an easy trip for her. Jet lag, grumpy parents, long walks during metro transfer, parents who want to walk thru Amsterdam without a stroller.. but I think she had a blast eating her way thru both Paris and Amsterdam.
Travel: Why I belong in Amsterdam

May 28th, 2005
My new favorite city to live is now Amsterdam
1. Everyone rides their bicycles here, the ratio is close to 1-to-1
2. I can almost run as fast as bikes so I can be in the bike lanes most of the time running. I scared this dad riding his daughter today when I chased him
3. The city is small enough that I can run anywhere
4. The people here are super fit looking
5. Everyone speaks English
6. The people are super friendly
7. Food is very diverse and ethnic
8. Great classical music and opera
9. Lots of water everywhere, better than Venice (no snobbishness)
10. Chocolates and ice cream
11. Best espresso drinks outside of Italy
12. Legalized drugs
13. A lot of night life, music
14. Very high tech and modern public transportation system
15. Pleasant sounding language
Travel: Amsterdam city for the young at heart

May 27th, 2005

Guys and gals, for a sinful week of fun and food, you must come to Amsterdam.
This city is lively, everyone speaks English, it’s a very relaxed and opened environment (open prostitution, open gay marriages, legalized drugs).

When we got to Amsterdam from Paris, it was only an hour’s flight. We got some fresh juice, shots of espresso at the very modern and ultra-design savvy fruit stand and Kate had a blast watching ultra-designed 30 secs ads at the Airport.

We followed the StyleGuide to Amsterdam book and found a very cool clown shop named the Juggle Storewhere I bought 4 swede juggling balls and kate found her favorite bubble solution and large wand. We then jumped 4 houses over to Puccini Bomboni for the best chocolate I’ve ever had. Everything pales in comparison to the delicate flavors of these exquisite nuggets. Then we walked over and bumped into the a very hip ice cream parlor from Austria and found very ultra-design candy containers and chic chocolates there were average, but who cares, they looked cool.

A few more steps away, a cafe serving the tastiest bitterlemon drinks and ice tea with tonic water. I had a focaccia bread sandwich, kate had a small little cheese, advocado sandwich. That kid of mine had 3 servings of ice cream, play with bubbles in front of the hotel in 85 degree weather. What a life.

After 9:00pm we took the tram to the red light district and saw the spectical of the women prostitutes in the little door ways. I have to say, after seeing them I had these feelings

1) They are not as pretty as I thought they would be
2) If you want to go in, there is a small bed right behind the girl, the room is probably 4 feet by 8 feet. The woman just pulls the curtains, you do your thing for 15 mins and she tells you to leave
3) I’m actually very intimidated by the women
4) very funny when they are eating popsicles and laughing, they seem to be enjoying their work.. whatever that means
5) funny paraphrase from a guide book, “if you ever get violent with these girls, they have a panic button and you better hope the police gets there soon. Or else you will meet the acquaintance of the biggest man you’ve ever met in your life”
6) except that it’s legalized, and the women are safer, it’s really no different than streetwalkers (which is actually illegal in Amsterdam)

After the redlight district, went to Cafe de Jaren had a late dinner and beer and taxi back.. Awesome city to live when you are young at heart or just plain young and want to smoke weed and relax.
Travel: “Only in Amsterdam”

May 26th, 2005
I’m getting ready to leave for Amsterdam and the Let’s go Amsterdam guide book has a section named Only in Amsterdam
1. Commercial Sex
  “Window prostituion, which grew out of the practice of prostitutes showing off their goods from the front windows of private houses, was officially legalized in 1911 and in 2000, the law outlawing brothels was taken off the books, making informal streetwalking the only prohibited form of prostituion”
2. Coffee Shops
  “Places calling themselves coffeeshops sell pot or hash or will let you buy a drink and smoke your own stuff” “
3. Smart Shops
  “Smart shops are also legal and peddle a variety of herbal enhancers as well as hallucinogens that walk the fine line between soft and hard drugs”
Now a few thoughts
1. Prostitution:
  Because it’s legalized, prostitutes have to pay taxes, but there is still stigma, health insurance is still a problem and borrowing money is also a problem when the bank finds out what they do for a living. If women choose to sell their body for money, what’s wrong with it? If they are not being exploited by pimps, they set their own prices and earn a living like anyone else.
  Could this model work here in the US? Legalize prostituton: control the spread of STD, crimes associated with pimping, drug use, give women who want this profession a way to make money. I’m sure I’m being naive, but if we accept the fact that you can’t stop it, why not contain it?
2. Marijuana: I don’t get it, why smoke something that is just bad for you.. I really don’t get the big deal. It’s almost like saying, we have free cigarrettes for a year, come and smoke it
3. Hallucinogens: I don’t get this either, big deal if it’s legalized, why put drugs into your body
3 Comments

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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/29/2005 09:09 am
It would actually be a good idea to legalize everything – from prostitution to ciggarettes, to alcohol to heroin. That way all the ‘induh’viduals in this planet would have a way out, and the rest of mankind would be able to continue with evolution…
Does this make sense? Or am I just feeling too sleepy?
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/26/2005 02:10 pm
I think it should all be legal and controlled. Hey, if the two worst drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, are legal, why not make the rest legal? I would give you a better argument with more supporting evidence but I’m too lazy.
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/26/2005 01:49 pm
“Could this model work here in the US? Legalize prostituton: control the spread of STD, crimes associated with pimping, drug use, give women who want this profession a way to make money.”

We have this just a few short hours to the east. Nevada.